How often do you as a GM advance your NPC crew? We know that PCs on a starship will be advancing but this is a game where they rely on NPCs for survival. Any thoughts?
Hmm very tough question.. If the NPC's are meant to be above the players then they shouldbe getting almost as many advancements as the players.. but if they are just dogsbodies they wouldn't really be going up as fast.. because the players will most likelly be your core characters... i.e. if your NPC's are just numpties then they should be just that because your PC's are the one's doing the hard part!
For example the CEO isn't going to get much more of an advancement on his large scale engineering if his NPC's are low or high level.. they are just boddies to and bonuses to his roll...
if they are an important NPC then i would say level them just behind your characters, as if anything else if one of your PC's dies they can just take over that NPC!